In His Father's Shadow: Robert Todd Lincoln

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".......he deserves to be remembered as more than just his father's son." Thanks to you good sir, he will.

His father would have been so proud of him. It's a shame he's not better known for all his own accomplishments. Thank you for sharing this extraordinary man's life story.

I’m so glad you touched on the story where he was saved by Booth’s older brother who was the most famous actor at the time. I heard it somewhere else but can’t remember where. It was such an interesting story that I started telling people and then got nervous that maybe I remembered wrong or something since I couldn’t remember where I heard it, but now I know that I got the facts correct. Still an incredible story

Robert had a pretty tragic life. He was always somewhat estranged from the rest of his family, but he still loved them and cared about them (and he was the only son of the Lincolns to survive to adulthood). The brother that would've been his playmate, Edward, died in infancy. During Lincoln's White House years, Robert was somewhat estranged from his father, because Lincoln had always been on the run with work during Robert's childhood, and Robert was away at Harvard while Lincoln was in office. Just as Robert and his father were starting to rise above it, and bond, Lincoln was assassinated, leaving Robert at age 22, the primary caretaker for his mother and his surviving younger brother, Tad. In the following years, Robert essentially took care of, but remained estranged from Tad, as the two brothers had a 10-year age gap, and were bipolar opposites in personality. Just as the age gap was starting to close, and Tad started to mature, Robert was prepared to rise to the occasion of being the loving supportive older brother, but then, Tad got sick and died. Robert became estranged to the breaking point with his mother when her mental instability pushed him to commit her to a private sanitarium. Although she was released soon after, they never fully reconciled. Robert later had to bury his own son at a young age, and found himself unwittingly around for the assassinations of both James Garfield and William McKinley, and his whole life, he always felt he was living in the shadow of his father. (Oh, and did I mention, about a year before Lincoln's assassinated, Robert was nearly killed, but was saved by, of all people, famous actor Edwin Thomas Booth, older brother of John Wilkes Booth. And Edwin's life story was just as tragic as Robert's)

This is history worth knowing and remembering.

I once visited Robert Lincolns Home up in Manchester, Vermont and even bought some peonies from his estate which I brought back home and planted in my garden and now enjoy each year.

I’m so glad to hear a more balanced summary of Robert Lincoln’s life! Rarely do I see him written about as if he was anything more than a disappointment compared to his father, even while his accomplishments were duly acknowledged. All things considered, he was a man of considerable merit who led a remarkable life!

An excellent overview of someone who always lived in the shadow of his father. Yet should be known, respected and remembered for his own shadow.

I'm sure that, had President Lincoln lived into old age, he would have been proud of what his son Robert accomplished in his life.

How in the world did the highly accomplished son of one of our most famous Presidents manage to fly so far under the radar of history?! An amazing history lesson! And on top of that, how did it take me this long to come across this channel?! New sub.

My daughter and I visited his home in Vermont this past summer. It was beautiful and they had lots of pictures of the Lincoln family. We even got to see President Lincoln’s stove top hat under glass display. Beautiful gardens too.

We visited Robert Todd Lincoln's home in Vermont, Hildene. We. were struck by its beauty and his organization. He had a room with various drawers for things. The house was on a plateau near. Manchester. The home was beautiful in its simplicity. Thank you for the story of his life.

What a wonderful report of a man who didn't waste his life, not living in his father's shadow, but doing what he wanted. I'm a Canadian and I found this very interesting and inspirational. Thank you.

I have the personal correspondence between Robert Todd Lincoln and Senators asking him to run for President, amazing documents.

Extremely interesting vignette! I had no idea how accomplished Robert Todd Lincoln became in his lifetime. One of the only things I'd known about him was the fact that his life had once been saved by Edwin Booth. Thank you for this!

Great video. I’ve toured his home and Pullman Car in Mass. I have a photograph like the one behind you of my Uncle Lonnie Preston Smith’s platoon when he did basic training before he shipped off to Europe during WWI. He was at Verdun during the great battle. Terrible battle. I also have the flag my great great grandparents flew in their window until he returned. His sister, my great aunt Carrie Mae McDonald, who drove until she was 100 and lived to be 110, had the picture in her house and I’d always admired it. When she asked me, “Joe is there anything in this house you might want after I’m gone?” all I could think of was that picture. It’s hanging beside my bed and is my favorite physical possession. I know the world is going to lose all of this history but I appreciate the ones like you that are keeping it alive as long as possible. Again, great video. Keep up the good work

Robert was an amazing man. His father would have been proud of him.

Excellent video. I never knew anything about Robert Todd Lincoln...no mention in American history classes at school.

This is the first History Guy video I watched a few years ago. This you tube channel has grown up so much since then. President Lincoln's Robert Todd Lincoln was a great man and definitely deserves to be remembered!!!